Brandon Ingram scored 24 points and New Orleans beat Dallas 107-91 on Friday night, two days after the Pelicans lost by 32 to the Mavericks at home while letting them set a franchise record for shooting percentage.

The Pelicans missed their first eight shots and started 2 of 20 before going 13 of 19 (68%) in the third quarter and outscoring Dallas 63-43 after halftime for their fourth win in six games following a 3-16 start.

The Mavericks shot 68.7% in a 139-107 win to start the home-and-home set, but surpassed the 26 misses from that outing early in the third quarter.

Luka Doncic, who had 21 points and 10 rebounds, was just 7 of 20 from the field as Dallas finished at 41% (32 of 79). The Pelicans shot 42% (37 of 89).

The Brooklyn Nets are starting to look like the team that was so potent a season ago.

Kevin Durant scored 32 points and led the spurt that broke open the game late in the third quarter, and the Nets beat the Atlanta Hawks 117-108 on Wednesday night for their third straight victory.

“We’re finding that rhythm, we’re finding each other and it’s just getting a lot easier,” James Harden said.

CJ McCollum scored 28 points and the Portland Trail Blazers handed the Detroit Pistons their seventh straight loss with a 110-92 victory on Tuesday night.

Ben McLemore, who had played in just six previous games for the Blazers this season, had 17 points off the bench. Portland, with Damian Lillard looking on from the bench in street clothes, snapped a three-game losing streak.

Portland has won 10 straight at home for the first time since 2009.

Mikal Bridges and Deandre Ayton were all smiles at the postgame podium, reminiscing about a four-year turnaround for the Phoenix Suns that’s in some ways still hard to believe.

The Suns won just 19 games during their rookie seasons. Now, they’ve tied a franchise record with 17 wins — in a row.

Ayton scored 24 points, Chris Paul added 15 points and 11 assists, and the Suns won their 17th straight by beating the Golden State Warriors 104-96 on Tuesday night in an early showdown between the NBA’s top teams.

“It’s just a lot of work, a lot of mental toughness, staying with it,” Bridges said. “We knew when we first got here that we wanted to turn it around.”

Anthony Davis scored 25 points, Russell Westbrook added 23 and the Los Angeles Lakers overcame the absence of LeBron James to beat the Sacramento Kings 117-92 on Tuesday night.

The Lakers sent James home earlier in the day after he was placed in the NBA’s health and safety protocol. Davis said James told him he felt good and was asymptomatic, but the Lakers will have to play at least a few games without him.

“We still have to find ways to win,” Davis said. “We can’t let that affect us. Obviously, he’s a huge part of our team. But we’ve played a huge amount of games without him. So we kind of know how that is already. We’ve got to continue to play like we did on the defensive end until he’s able to come back.”

The Lakers got more than enough from their other two big stars and took over with a dominant third quarter to win back-to-back games for the first time since Nov. 8-10.

LeBron James has been placed in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, and was ruled out for the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night.

Such a move almost certainly means one of two things: that James, who said earlier this season that he is vaccinated, either tested positive for COVID-19 or had an inconclusive result.

A person with knowledge of the situation said the Lakers are preparing for James to miss multiple games. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because neither the team nor James had revealed that detail publicly. ESPN previously reported that James is “expected” to miss several games.

It may not seem like much, but winning consecutive games proved to be an arduous step for San Antonio, one the Spurs finally accomplished on Monday night.

Derrick White had a season-high 24 points, Dejounte Murray had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Washington Wizards 116-99 to win consecutive games for the first time this season.

San Antonio had not won back-to-back games in a stretch since late April (when they won three straight), sandwiching losing streaks in between all but one victory this season.

“I just told them right now, this one’s over, too,” Murray said. “On to the next and let’s build from it.”

Nikola Jokic returned and scored 24 points, Aaron Gordon added 20 and the Denver Nuggets snapped their longest losing streak in nearly six years by beating the short-handed Miami Heat 120-111 on Monday night.

Bones Hyland scored 19 and Will Barton added 14 for the Nuggets, who had dropped six straight. Jokic hadn’t played in the last four of those because of a wrist injury but finished with 15 rebounds and seven assists.

Jeff Green scored 12 for Denver, which shot 58% on the day it was revealed Michael Porter Jr. will need back surgery. Porter has been limited to nine games this season.

Donovan Mitchell scored 30 points, Rudy Gobert had 21 points and 16 rebounds, and the Utah Jazz beat the Portland Trail Blazers 129-107 Monday night.

Jordan Clarkson added 22 points for Utah, which used quick passes and spacing to make 19 3-pointers and shot 53 percent from the field a game after making a season-high 20 3s. The Jazz matched their season high with 46 made field goals.

Anfernee Simons scored a season-high 24 points and Jusuf Nurkic also had 24 as the Trail Blazers fell to 1-10 on the road this season.

Utah’s Royce O’Neale missed his second straight game with a sprained ankle, and Joe Ingles had 14 points, four 3-pointers and six assists in his place. Clarkson made six shots from beyond the arc.

Jarrett Allen and Lauri Markkanen notched season highs with 28 and 24 points respectively, and the Cleveland Cavaliers dominated the Dallas Mavericks for a 114-96 win on Monday night — their most lopsided win of the season.

Allen also had 14 rebounds, while Darius Garland added 18 points for the Cavaliers. Their largest lead was 31 points midway through the fourth quarter, when Markkanen’s fifth 3-pointer put Cleveland ahead 104-73.

Luka Doncic posted his second triple-double of the season with 25 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Doncic made a season-high seven 3-pointers (7 of 11), while his teammates went 4 for 28 from behind the arc.